The Daily Breeze from Torrance, California • 25

Inside sports The Dainty Sieee Mike i 1 4 rf 1 4 Waldner Sports Kentucky defeats Notre Dame 86-80 Page D3 USC tailback Charles White is getting his ideas across Page D4 The combination of Ohio State coach Earle Bruce and quarterback Art Schlichter is working iust fine Page D4 Jim Thomas Page D4 Area prep basketball preview Page D5 Pro football preview Page D7 Sun Dec 30 1979 D1 An upsetting day in the playoffs BucS Bell get past Eagles Hurt Oilers stun Chargers makes the fewest mistakes would said Bell we figured run right at them We were moving the ball pretty well on the ground all day so why Tampa Bay which staggered to the Central Division title by scoring only 10 points in its final three games controlled the tempo against the Eagles rushing for 186 yards on 55 attempts while keeping the ball for 37 minutes The Eagles who beat Chicago in the NFC wild card game last week were held to 48 Buccaneers D6 col 5 TAMPA Fla (UPI) Like he would do with any 4-year-old Tampa Bay coach John McKay made things simple Saturday With Ricky Bell slashing for 142 yards on a playoff record 38 carries the fourth-year Buccaneers hammered away at the left side of the Philadelphia defense for a 24-17 upset victory over the Eagles that propelled Tampa Bay into next NFC title game The Buccaneers who led throughout in the first playoff game in their history will meet the winner of semifinal game between Dallas and the Rams McKay told us that the team that And Gifford Nielsen making only his second career start in the NFL as replacement teamed with Mike Renfro on a 47-yard scoring play with 205 left to play in the third quarter for the touchdown that put Houston in the AFC title game Sunday against the winner of today's game between the Miami Dolphins and the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers knew when we signed him as a free agent out of Canada that the kid was a player" Oilers coach Bum Phillips said of Perry Oilers D6 col 4 SAN DIEGO (AP) no such thing as a one- or two-man Vernon Perry said But Perry strong safety was a record-shattering one-man gang Saturday as he helped propel the Oilers past San Diego 17-14 and into the American Conference championship game Perry a refugee from the Canadian Football League led an aroused defense that compensated for the absence of National Football League rushing champion Earl Campbell quarterback Dan Pastorini and other key offensive players as he intercepted four passes and blocked a field-goal attempt irvL xNf 1 In Simmer streak at end A winning attitude DALLAS Vince Lombardi was both a phrase maker and a winner Of course the fact that the Green Bay Packers won so often under Lombardi had something to do with the attention people paid when he spoke One of his more memorable statements came following a rare loss lose" Lombardi insisted just ran This was his way of underlining the attitude of his team the Packers would not think of nor accept' defeat Keep this in mind before you laugh at the Rams for expressing thoughts of victory today against the Cowboys in the quarterfinal round of the Super Bowl tournament In the last six years the Rams have made the playoffs six times Each year they have been knocked out Three times they were eliminated by Minnesota The good news is that the Vikings did not qualify this time The bad news is that the three other defeats came against the Cowboys For the record Dallas won in 1973 by a 27-16 count in 1975 it was 37-7 and last year the score was 28-0 Also when they played this season on the 14th day of October the Cowboys hammered the Rams one more time 30-6 Obviously the Rams have two chances today slim and none not so obvious to the Rams can beat said Ray Malavasi coach of the Rams are a good team never said otherwise But also a good team good enough to beat them Believe me good How can Malavasi say this in the face of the record? just a matter of attitude He refuses to believe his team cannot win This is why when his team was ground into the artificial turf back in October he said might get another shot at them in the His attitude was such that he actually was looking forward to a rematch with Dallas There are reasons other than the strength and success of Dallas to question the right of the Rams to have positive thoughts With Vince Ferragamo in the start-ing lineup they are going to war with an inexperienced quarterback There are those in the stands who have called for Bob Lee the veteran to get the 1 starting assignment reason for sticking with Ferragamo is that he believes the young man has the potential to take the Rams to the Super Bowl As for Lee while he has played well since joining the team his history indicates he has limitations Still Ferragamo is inexperienced With Ron Jessie and Willie Miller on the injured list the Rams are support- ing Ferragamo with a group of inexperienced receivers Lionel Taylor the assistant in charge of the ends pleads for patience Still they have yet to prove them-' selves in the NFL There a Lynn Swann or John Stallworth in the group Or a Tony Hill Now that hurts Hill has become Roger favorite receiver He was available as late as the third round of the 1977 draft when the Cowboys made him the 62nd player selected Earlier in the second round the Rams picked Billy Waddy (No 50)' This is the same Waddy who is not a star for the Rams With one injury after another the Rams never lived up to their promise in the pre-playoff season They were especially hard hit at the corners with Pat Thomas and Rod Perry their Pro Bowl tandem going down Perry is back in the starting lineup Thomas is on the roster in a supporting role Still there is reason to question the secondary As Thomas has pointed out it takes time even for veterans to get their act together Time is some-" thing the Rams do not have There are additional question i marks What about the inconsistent blocking? Why has Terry Nelson been less effective at tight end than he was two years ago when he became a starter? Where has fullback Cullen Bryant been recently? How would you grade Mike work at defensive tackle? Dave Elmendorf veteran safety dismisses all the question marks His attitude is such that he believes anything is possible should have been the winner a couple of times in the past when lost in the he said happens? Sometimes the ball just bounces the wrong way Who knows about this sort of thing? Maybe this will be our 1 1 i Staff photo by Bob Carrington Wendell Tyler has become the Rams' premier into today's NFC playoff game against the running back this season and will lead them Cowboys in Dallas Bitterness Bruins beat Stanford trails Rams to Dallas The Kings lost a couple of streaks at the Forum Saturday night but not the most important one Charlie Simmer failed to score after setting a modern National Hockey League record with at least a goal in 13 consecutive games Ron Grahame gave up a goal after shutting out the opposition for 115 minutes one second But the Kings scored their seventh consecutive home victory 4-3 over the Minnesota North Stars as they barely hung on against a team that burned them earlier this season at the Forum On Nov 10 the North Stars scored twice in the final two minutes at the Forum for a 6-6 tie with the Kings and coach Bob Berry did a slow burn afterward team can't settle for a two-gaal win" he said at the time got to go for more Saturday with a crowd of 14211 chanting "Charlie Charlie" they might have been concentrating too much on trying to extend Simmers' record Marcel Dionne's 28th goal of the season unassisted about six minutes into the third period gave them a 4-0 lead It turned out to be the game-winner on the team wanted for him get the goal just like everybody in the stands did" said Syl Apps of Simmer Apps had opened the scoring for the Kings "But the big thing was to keep up with Montreal The victory moved the Kings back to within two points of the Canadiens in the Norris Division and back into second place Both the Canadiens and Pittsburgh had won earlier in the night the Penguins moving momentarily ahead of the Kings The Kings ended a personal seven-game winning streak for goalie Gil-les Meloche and it marked only the ninth loss of the season for the North Stars Their comeback began with 811 gone in the final period when Mike Polich scored and then Glen Shar-pley scored with three minutes left Meloche left the net with 36 seconds remaining in the game and the North Stars on a power play With 20 seconds left Craig Hartsburg cut the Kings' possessive lead to one With the net still empty the fans still continued to chant for Charlie But by then the Kings decided to tuck this one away Summary D8 By Mike Morrow Staff writer Gig Sims had a warning Saturday night for his coach who has maintained an understandable innocence when asked about life among Pacific-10 Conference basketball schools is like the eighth wonder of the world" said Sims looking ahead to UCLA's next games in the Pac-10 drive to the arena is eerie On the left-hand side of the street is a cemetary They told me when I was a freshman that they buried their opponents And Oregon State? said Sims looking at a room full of newsmen picked them to win haven't you?" The Bruins completed their expected opening week sweep with a 92-60 victory over Stanford before 12473 fans at Pauley Pavilion It was one of their most spirited efforts for three-fourths of the game at least And according to coach Larry Brown it was the sort of effort UC Sims James Wilkes Kiki Van-deweghe and Darrel Allums the Bruin seniors have made previous trips to the Northwest but the majority of the traveling party will be making their first excursion along the Oregon Trail told me to dress warm" said Brown And prepare for most anything The Bruins had little trouble with Stanford breaking the game open with a late spurt in the first half The Cardinals winless on the road (though close twice made the game interesting for much of the first 15 minutes Terry Smith a 6-foot-4 lefthanded guard from University High put them in front at 1445 with a fastbreak slam dunk but the Bruins began their run 30 seconds later Stanford was on top at the outset of the game scoring the first six points and led several more times before six straight points by UCLA tied the game Wilkes was particularly productive for the Bruins in the early going UCLA D2 col 4 LA will be needing in the weeks to come we had better play like this" said Brown don't know what it takes to win in this conference but an effort like this will carry us a long ways" The 6-2 Bruins meet the 10-1 Oregon State Beavers the pre-season Pac-10 favorite in Corvallis Thursday and Oregon Saturday we play like this we lose to anyone" said Sims have made a lot of progress as a team We are playing with a lot of emotion and unity If we continue to do this we will win the NCAA championship got the talent to win the NCAA that's for sure" The two upcoming games Sims said going to be the toughest to date" no tougher place to play in the nation" said Sims totally different than Pauley Pavilion and the Sports Arena up there I think some of our players (and the coaches) will have a real awakening" By Bob Cox Staff writer DALLAS A brief historical recap helps establish a feeling of acrimony between the Rams and Cowboys competitors today in a National Football League playoff game at Texas Stadium Year by year 1973 The Rams their first season under Chuck Knox rolled to a 12-2 record and journeyed to Dallas to play the 10-4 Cowboys Dallas completed a last-gasp pass to Drew Pearson as safety Steve Preece missed an attempted interception and went on to win 27-16 1975 The favored Rams emerging from the regular season with another 12-2 record defeated St Louis handily (35-23 in a first-round game to set up an NFC title clash with the 10-4 Cowboys Underdog Dallas crushed the Rams 37-7 at the Coliseum 1976 The one bright spot in a bitter rivalry The Rams (10-3-1 upset the 11-3 Cowboys 14-2 at Texas Stadium 1978 Dallas was coming off a Super Bowl season and visited the Coliseum to meet Ray 12-4 team The Cowboys hung an embarrassing 28-0 loss on the Rams There were also losses to Minnesota in the 1974 and 77 playoffs adding to the frustration of the Rams during the decade which comes to an end Monday night But Dallas clearly is the rub on Ram players and fans And game (kickoff is 1 pm PST) is just another chapter in a long-running serial The Cowboys finished the regular season at 11-5 and are eight-point favorites over the Rams who lost two more games Rams D7 col I rojans beat Cal the hard way By Chris Mortensen Staff writer USC slipped Saturday night The Trojans almost made it an easy victory over California in a Pacific-10 Conference game apologize" said Stan Morrison USC basketball coach after watching his team withstand a late Cal rally for an 84-74 victory before 4715 at the Sports Arena He was kidding of course Yes he would have preferred to enjoy a rare comfortable moment down the stretch But it to be as Cal down 64-42 with 10:44 to play pulled within four points 78-74 with 41 seconds remaining Jacque Hill a freshman guard provided the Trojans a pleasant surprise A 19 percent free throw shooter (3-for-23) he converted both ends of a one-and-one bonus for an 80-74 margin Purvis two free throws padded the lead and Barry Brooks' layup at the buzzer gave USC its biggest margin of victory in nine And behind senior guard Don second straight 20-point evening they gave no signs of letting up during the first 10 minutes of the second half It was Carfino's spectacular one-handed dunk off a bounce-pass from Brooks at high post that led to a three-point play and the 64-42 advantage midway through the second half 4 1 i I But Cal which started three freshmen who played like freshmen in the USC D2 col 3 i wins this year That doesn't mean much to Morrison though His Trojans are 2-0 after their weekend conference openers setting up next week's showdown up north with Pac-10 favorite Oregon State so happy to be 2-0" said Morrison exactly what I wanted before going to Corvallis The Trojans shot 52 percent from the floor to make what appeared to be a commanding 43-28 halftime advantage I.